 Born in Manchester, mezzo-soprano Clare Wilkinson read Classics with a Choral Scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge. She subsequently took up a scholarship to study at Trinity College of Music, London, where she won the Early Music, Lieder, English Song and Oratorio/Cantata Prizes.
Now established as a soloist specialising in Renaissance and Baroque music, Clare is in demand with many distinguished conductors and ensembles. In particular, she has performed in many of the world's major concert venues, from the Hong Kong Philharmonic to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, with The English Baroque Soloists/Sir John Eliot Gardiner (including her recent debuts at the Royal Albert Hall singing Grandi and Rigatti, and the Royal Opera House singing Mozart). With Gardiner she has also sung Bach's St Matthew Passion, Magnificat and Mass in B Minor around Europe, Handel's Dixit Dominus in the USA and Purcell's The Tempest in the Far East.
Other highlights include Bach's Christmas Oratorio in the Theatre des Champs Elysees, Paris, with Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset; Bach's St John Passion at the Köln Philharmonie with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln/Markus Stenz; consort songs at the Spitalfields, Wratislavia Cantans, Flanders and Périgord Noir Festivals with Fretwork; Bach's Mass in B Minor and Matthew Passion with the Swedish Baroque Orchestra in Sweden and Norway; the St Matthew Passion with the Dunedin Consort/John Butt; the St John Passion with The Hanover Band/Jeffrey Skidmore; the St Matthew Passion with Florilegium/David Hill; Vivaldi cantatas, Buxtehude's Membra Jesu Nostri and Bach's Wiederstehe doch der Sünde with Margaret Faultless; frottole at the York and Cambridge Early Music Festivals with Musica Antiqua of London; the Bach cantata Schlage Doch with the William Byrd Singers of Manchester/Stephen Wilkinson; and many concerts around the UK and Europe with The Rose Consort of Viols, most recently at the Asfeld, Warwick and Chesterfield Festivals.
Also a passionate vocal consort singer, Clare is a member of I Fagiolini (winners of The Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award 2006) with whom she has a busy schedule of concerts and tours. Recent projects include the highly critically acclaimed secret theatre piece The Full Monteverdi, soon to be available on DVD (trailer now at ifagiolini.com), newly commissioned opera The Birds by Ed Hughes, and the group's trademark staged madrigal comedies. The group recently released Flaming Heart (Chandos), the first in a series of Monteverdi CDs. Clare is also a member of Alamire, Ensemble Plus Ultra, Trinity Baroque and the Dunedin Consort.
Future engagements include Handel's Messiah with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Richard Egarr and with The English Concert/Harry Bicket, Bach's St John Passion with the Manchester Camerata/Nicholas Kraemer, a tour and CD of the Matthew Passion with The Purcell Quartet, Handel's Aci & Galatea with The London Handel Orchestra/Laurence Cummings, a concert at the Lanvellec Festival with Fretwork, Charpentier's Litanies a la Vierge with Les Talens Lyriques/Christophe Rousset, Chabrier's L'Etoile with The English Baroque Soloists/Sir John Eliot Gardiner, a recital at the William Byrd Festival in Portland, Oregon, and many projects with I Fagiolini, including series of performances at The Lincoln Center, New York and the Kennedy Center, Washington.
Clare features on numerous recordings, notably Handel's Messiah with the Dunedin Consort/John Butt (Linn) for which she won wide critical acclaim, and Fire and Ice and A Songbook for Isabella (Signum), both with Musica Antiqua of London. Recordings due for release in 2007 include Cruel Amour (airs by Sebastien le Camus) with the Maresienne Consort, lute songs by Verdelot on Alamire's debut disk Madrigals for a Tudor King (Obsidian), consort songs by Tallis, Byrd, Tye and Tomkins with The Rose Consort of Viols, a recital disk with Fretwork, and the St Matthew Passion with The Dunedin Consort/John Butt.
www.clarewilkinsonmezzo.co.uk
Top |
